Top-ranked Phillipsburg was among eight Big Central Conference teams in action Friday night, and all eight of them won, with two more – Summit and Manville – in action Saturday afternoon.
The Stateliners, along with Bernards, St. Joseph-Metuchen, Sayreville, Woodbridge, Spotswood and New Providence, all remain perfect heading into Week Six play next week, with just three games left before the NJSIAA’s Cutoff Weekend.
Stateliners win tight contest with West Orange…
It was a rare mid-season non-conference game for No. 1 Phillipsburg (5-0), which topped West Orange (4-2) at home, 24-20, for the program’s 753rd win all-time.
Down three in the fourth quarter at Maloney Stadium, the Stateliners went 68 yards on 16 plays – 15 of them on the ground – and went ahead for good with 6:19 left on a two-yard run by Shane Moore. Ziyahn McGurn and Sam Dech also scored touchdown runs, while Alexie Moriera kicked a 31-yard field goal after missing a 46-yarder where a personal foul on the Mountaineers moved them 15 yards closer and gave him another shot.
Click below for postgame reaction from Phillipsburg head coach Frank Duffy with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
Metuchen takes rivalry game with Highland Park…
The Bulldogs won their eighth straight in their longstanding series with Highland Park Friday night, a 36-13 victory where Metuchen pulled away in the second half. They still trail the series 61-27-1, but the victory tied the longest win streak in the series, which Highland Park has done twice, from 1958-1965 and 1973-1980. The series started in 1937 and is one of the oldest in New Jersey.
With a 13-7 lead at the half, the Bulldogs controlled the game after the break, outscoring the Owls 23-6.
QB Cam Hayes-Durina had himself a night, going 20 of 26 passing for 366 yards and three touchdowns, while Justus Leitner 8 catches for 197 yards and a score.
Click below for postgame reaction from Metuchen head coach Jordan Leitner with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
Bernards survives scare…
Even after losing senior defensive end and all-time school sack leader Thomas Deimar to a season-ending knee injury in Game Three, Bernards has been able to maintain. They got a 31-21 win at Voorhees the next game, then beat JP Stevens 39-0 at home the following week.
But Friday night, a trip to South Plainfield – a gritty, blue-collar team – almost derailed them. But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
And it was another injury that set up the Mountaineers to start a freshman quarterback in a game for the first time in 50 years, according to head coach Jon Simoneau, who says he scoured the building and talked to everyone to find out the last time it happened.
No. 1 QB Nolan Walsh injured his ankle last week in the first half against JP Stevens, sending ninth-grade A.J. MacKracken in, and he threw a touchdown pass in the win.
This week, he threw one they really needed: a four-yarder to Ricky Giebel on the second possession of the game, to give his team a 7-0 lead that would hold all the way to the final horn.
South Plainfield ran the ball, ran it more, and ran it some more, keeping it in the sure hands of Dominic Massaro. Simoneau says – without looking at the official numbers – his team probably ran about 19 plays, as the Tigers’ strategy was to keep the ball away from the Mountaineers.
It nearly worked.
But in the end, Bernards extended its state-best winning streak to 31 games, and its second-best Big Central win streak to 29 games, while improving to 5-0 on the season ahead of a visit to undefeated Summit (which plays Somerville Saturday this week) next weekend.
Other notes…
- North Hunterdon got its first win of the season, beating Monroe on the road, 29-21. The Lions had lost their first five games, but broke through Friday night ahead of a home game with Somerville next Friday in Annandale.
- Wins by No. 1 Phillipsburg and No. 6 St. Joseph will set up a battle of unbeatens next Saturday in Metuchen, our Saturday “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff from Brenner Family Field set for 1 pm. The two met last year on CJSR this same week, with the Stateliners 4-1 and the Falcons 5-0. Phillipsburg won that game and went on to win the North 2, Group 4 title, going all the way to the Group 4 final, while St. Joe’s lost its next four after that.
- Hunterdon Central‘s win over East Brunswick gave the Red Devils a two-game win streak, following losses to Phillipsburg and Bridgewater-Raritan, back-to-back. They visit Ridge next Friday in their final regular season road game, before finishing at home with Old Bridge and Hillsborough.
- Montgomery‘s win over Linden will set up a big clash next Saturday, as the Cougars will host No., 2 and 6-0 Woodbridge Friday night. That could be the biggest game in the Big Central on Friday night in Week Six.
Here’s the Friday evening scoreboard from the Big Central for Week Three, with links to individual game stories:
- No. 1 Phillipsburg 24, West Orange 20
- No. 2 Woodbridge 41, Perth Amboy 0
- Paramus Catholic 42, No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas 14
- No. 4 Bernards 7, South Plainfield 0
- No. 6 St. Joseph-Metuchen 42, North Brunswick 7
- No. 8 Sayreville 42, No. 7 Piscataway 24 (Recap with audio)
- No. 9 Montgomery 22, Linden 16
- No. 10(t) Bridgewater-Raritan 34, Elizabeth 23
- No. 10(t) Old Bridge 24, Morristown 0
- New Providence 46, Middlesex 7
- Voorhees 41, North Plainfield 13
- Spotswood 36, Bound Brook 7
- Metuchen 36, Highland Park 13
- Watchung Hills 20, South Brunswick 15
- Plainfield 34, Franklin 8
- North Hunterdon 30, Monroe 12
- Colonia 21, Edison 0
- Hunterdon Central 28, East Brunswick 7
- Johnson 21, Governor Livingston 20 (OT)
- Carteret 45, New Brunswick 0
- Cranford 43, Rahway 41
- JFK 33, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 14
- Brearley 21, South Hunterdon 0 (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
- Roselle Park 50, Dunellen 8
Here’s a look at Saturday’s Big Central Conference slate:
- Dayton at Belvidere, 10 am
- Delaware Valley at South River, 1 pm
- No. 5 Somerville at Summit, 2 pm
- Hillsborough at Westfield, 2 pm (follow CJSR for updates on Twitter)
- Ridge at Union, 2 pm
- Hillside at Roselle, 2 pm
- Manville at JP Stevens, 3 pm
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